Goal weight achieved! Now what...?

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  • bazfitness
    bazfitness Posts: 275 Member
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    If you have only been eating 1200 calories a day and even at 175 lbs you are not a small guy, you have been eating wrong all along! Soz to say it bluntly ,but seeing this far too often lately. You've probably lost more muscle than you needed to by rushing weight loss. Anyway now that it's done, you said it yourself you are being irrational, just start eating proper amounts again with the same determination that had you under-eating in the first place! And get plenty of exercise in, sounds like weight training would probably be good for you, to regain some of the muscle you lost, should help to keep the fat down if not your weight. Reducing your fat to healthy levels is far more important than the number on the scale after all!
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
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    Congrats on your weight loss!

    Wow, 1200 calories is really low; I hope you are eating exercise calories on top of that? Ya you need to bump that up slowly so you don't get discouraged with initial gains while you get that metabolism back up there. You DO need to increase the calories bc if you don't, you WILL be stuck at 1200 (or fewer) forever, or else you will yo-yo (don't want that).

    I am 5'4 131 lbs, and I maintain on around 2500 calories a day (including exercise); and lose on around 2000.

    EACH OF THESE STEPS IS IMPORTANT. You must commit for a minimum month on each step to get over initial scale fluctuations and continue to a sustainable place so you can keep your healthy weight forever.

    So . . . start with making sure you are eating your exercise calories. Hopefully you're already doing that; if not, start, and keep at it for a minimum one month before adding more calories on top.

    Then add 100 extra calories per day (so 1300 + exercise) and hold for a month or until weight stabilizes.

    Repeat until you reach your TDEE and weight is stabilized.

    Remember you have to give each step time to stabilize, so this is not going to happen overnight.

    Many people who lose weight on 1200 calories (especially without exercise calories), boomerang back upwards once they hit goal because A) 1200 calories is too low and B) they try to jump all the way up to normal maintenance after essentially starving themselves for a long time, see a big gain, freak out and restrict back to 1200, only to yo-yo until they give up and gain a lot again.

    Don't let that happen to you! Increase gradually so your metabolism can catch up.

    And for those of you reading who are still losing -- get off the 1200 calorie plan NOW and eat no less than BMR so you by the time you hit maintenance, you won't have a problem maintaining.

    blessings.
  • Namaste1983
    Namaste1983 Posts: 603 Member
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    THE SHIFT TO FOCUSING ON QUALITY HEALTHY FOODS INSTEAD OF CALORIE VACANT FOODS HAS HELPED ME CHANGE FROM LOSING TO MAINTENANCE. WHEN I WORRIED ABOUT CALORIES I WOULD SLIP UP, OVER DO IT AND MAKE MISTAKES. WHEN I MAKE HEALTH MY PRIORITY INSTEAD OF THE NUMBER ON THE SCALE I FEEL MY BEST. YOUR WEIGHT WILL FLUCTUTATE, I SUGGEST HIDING THE SCALE AND WEIGHING WEEKLY TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE ON TRACK. I GIVE MYSELF A 5 POUND MAINTENANCE CUSHION BECAUSE PERIOD CAN THROW YOU AND SOMETIMES WE EAT A HEAVY MEAL. YOU CAN DO THIS, STAY ACTIVE AND TRY SNEAKING IN NEW VEGGIES AND FRUIT FOR VARIETY SO YOUR CALORIE COUNTS STAY LOW :) CONGRATS!!!
  • kuger4119
    kuger4119 Posts: 213 Member
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    First, you should re-evaluate your goals and make sure what they should be now. When I started MFP, I weighed 177 lbs and thought that it would just be great to get down to 160 lbs. I didn't want to be too skinny. The "charts" said that I should weigh around 148 lbs but I felt I would be too thin. When I hit my goal, I looked at myself in the mirror and realized that I still had way too much fat on my body at 160 lbs.

    I set a new goal of 150 lbs but I am not obsessed about it. I've started lifting a lot more weights and I am focusing more on building muscle instead of losing weight although I'm still working on about a 400 calorie daily deficit. I'm working my way down to my new goal weight but I don't really care if I get there. I'm more concerned about how I feel at this point. You may find that when you think about it, you still have room to improve. I don't advocate anyone losing weight to the point of being too thin and I think that a healthy BMI is probably 20-25 for most people these days. The truly buff could be higher.

    For me, when I feel like I am nearing my goal weight (within a pound or two), I will probably do as others have suggested and slowly start adding more calories into my diet until I find the spot where I feel comfortable. Once I hit the right point, I'll probably lay off MFP. I plan on weighing myself once a week to make sure that I'm not trending upward and just jump back into the MFP routine if I get 5 lbs over my goal weight. I'm hoping that the discipline I've developed using MFP will make that easier. My biggest issue now is realizing that while MFP has been a great way for me to lose weight while I still eat most of the foods that I've always eaten, it is not really designed to give me great abs. The next stage for me is to slowly incorporate healthier foods into my diet in a manner that I will actually follow.
  • b_fit4life
    b_fit4life Posts: 120 Member
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    Congrats on your weight loss!

    Wow, 1200 calories is really low; I hope you are eating exercise calories on top of that? Ya you need to bump that up slowly so you don't get discouraged with initial gains while you get that metabolism back up there. You DO need to increase the calories bc if you don't, you WILL be stuck at 1200 (or fewer) forever, or else you will yo-yo (don't want that).

    I am 5'4 131 lbs, and I maintain on around 2500 calories a day (including exercise); and lose on around 2000.

    EACH OF THESE STEPS IS IMPORTANT. You must commit for a minimum month on each step to get over initial scale fluctuations and continue to a sustainable place so you can keep your healthy weight forever.

    So . . . start with making sure you are eating your exercise calories. Hopefully you're already doing that; if not, start, and keep at it for a minimum one month before adding more calories on top.

    Then add 100 extra calories per day (so 1300 + exercise) and hold for a month or until weight stabilizes.

    Repeat until you reach your TDEE and weight is stabilized.

    Remember you have to give each step time to stabilize, so this is not going to happen overnight.

    Many people who lose weight on 1200 calories (especially without exercise calories), boomerang back upwards once they hit goal because A) 1200 calories is too low and B) they try to jump all the way up to normal maintenance after essentially starving themselves for a long time, see a big gain, freak out and restrict back to 1200, only to yo-yo until they give up and gain a lot again.

    Don't let that happen to you! Increase gradually so your metabolism can catch up.

    And for those of you reading who are still losing -- get off the 1200 calorie plan NOW and eat no less than BMR so you by the time you hit maintenance, you won't have a problem maintaining.

    blessings.

    ^^THIS IS AWESOME ADVISE!!! Go for it! You got this!! and CONGRATULATIONS!!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Hopped on the scale today and was exactly 175. I was elated to be back down from an all time high of 220. My health is overwhelmingly better, I feel GREAT, and I'm wearing clothes sizes I don't remember fitting into in high school.

    So, all this said, I've developed somewhat of a "fear" of calories now. I'm perfectly rational and intellegent, but I have this irrational fear that going over 1200 calories per day is now going to start adding the weight back on at a disporprotional rate. I know I want to maintain this weight, and to do that I need to bump up my caloric intake. But I'm having trouble getting over that mental block of beginning to increase my calories.

    Anybody gone through this, and what did you do to get over that mental hurdle?

    These last few weeks with the same normal routine, what has been your net eating level, and what has been your weight lost on weekly basis?

    You can figure out your true TDEE and know that you can go back up to that level at least.

    Edit:
    If you really did net eat at 1200 avg daily.
    And your weight lost the last few weeks has been 1/2 lb, that means you had deficit of 250 cal daily on avg.

    That means TDEE is net 1450 calories.
    True TDEE would have your exercise calories on top of that.

    For a guy at your weight, that would be a very sad example, and means you really suppressed your metabolism.
    Which is fine at goal weight, there are benefits to it. Just a terribly slow weight loss experience compared to what could have been.
    I'm hoping you've been losing 1lb last few weeks.
  • YoYo1951
    YoYo1951 Posts: 370
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    bump to come back to. very informative
  • PattilloE
    PattilloE Posts: 1
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    I have gone through this very thing. I lost 50 pounds (200 lbs to 150 lbs) a year ago and I freaked out at the thought of putting the weight back on. I did a ton of research on how to maintain. The first thing I found was in order to keep myself from eating everything in site the second I reached my first goal I allowed myself a cheat day once a week. I found that if I ate healthy, i.e. kept eating fruits, veggies, lean meat, organic milk, most of the time I didn't put on any weight. I still count calories, but it has become second nature to do so. I have also become pretty adept at estimating calories in the foods I eat, so that makes it easier as well.

    "Metabolism has changed: the body now needs about eight fewer calories per day for each pound of weight that was lost. That means someone who loses 40 pounds will require about 320 calories fewer each day than they did before the weight loss. This difference in energy needs before and after weight loss has been dubbed the "energy gap" by University of Colorado professor James O. Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition in Denver."

    I was totally bummed when I read this, BUT the upside of this is the following:

    "Instead of trying to eat less for the rest of their lives to bridge the energy gap, these people exercise more. They typically spend an hour or more each day in aerobic exercise and strictly limit time spent watching television."

    This is exactly what I have done. I increased my physical activity to include more strength training to increase my lean muscle mass. I didn't increase my cardio though, just added to what I was already doing, which actually wasn't much. (I was working out 3 days a week doing Zumba. I have cut out the Zumba now and do HIIT workouts instead.)

    Also making sure you don't skip meals and weighing in once a week are great ways to help maintain.

    I hope this info helps...

    I am back in diet mode now that I have maintained the 50 lbs weight loss. I told myself when I lost the initial weight that if I maintained it for a year I would "try again" to lose the last 20!

    I wish you the best of luck with your maintainance program!

    Salut!
  • km_jenn
    km_jenn Posts: 107
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    Increase them slowly! 200 per week until you reach the determined maintenance goal. Also, stay active! Keep regular strength training and cardio. Strength 3-4 times per week, cardio 2-3. Congrats and good luck!
  • lippy12477
    lippy12477 Posts: 23 Member
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    YAY! There is some good advice on here. I think the point of adding 100 calories at a time is good advice. You won't be adding too many calories anc can monitor how your body is reacting to the increase. Healthy calories-great advice. Don't add the empty calories but the nutritional calories to maintain feeling good. I also agree that weight training will help to tone you up now. Remember if you gain a little weight while weight training, that is from muscle growth not fat. But I think you look great and toning will help you to maintain your weight and health. Love you!
  • bradphil87
    bradphil87 Posts: 617 Member
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    Awesome job!!!!! For me, I set my goal weight about 10 lbs lighter that I really want (but still in the healthy range) and I plan to start trying to gain muscle after I'm at goal. What the above poster said is a good idea about increasing them slowly over the course of a few weeks
  • pantherkeith
    pantherkeith Posts: 19 Member
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    Hopped on the scale today and was exactly 175. I was elated to be back down from an all time high of 220. My health is overwhelmingly better, I feel GREAT, and I'm wearing clothes sizes I don't remember fitting into in high school.

    So, all this said, I've developed somewhat of a "fear" of calories now. I'm perfectly rational and intellegent, but I have this irrational fear that going over 1200 calories per day is now going to start adding the weight back on at a disporprotional rate. I know I want to maintain this weight, and to do that I need to bump up my caloric intake. But I'm having trouble getting over that mental block of beginning to increase my calories.

    Anybody gone through this, and what did you do to get over that mental hurdle?

    These last few weeks with the same normal routine, what has been your net eating level, and what has been your weight lost on weekly basis?

    You can figure out your true TDEE and know that you can go back up to that level at least.

    Edit:
    If you really did net eat at 1200 avg daily.
    And your weight lost the last few weeks has been 1/2 lb, that means you had deficit of 250 cal daily on avg.

    That means TDEE is net 1450 calories.
    True TDEE would have your exercise calories on top of that.

    For a guy at your weight, that would be a very sad example, and means you really suppressed your metabolism.
    Which is fine at goal weight, there are benefits to it. Just a terribly slow weight loss experience compared to what could have been.
    I'm hoping you've been losing 1lb last few weeks.

    I've been averaging about 2 pounds per week, following the MFP recommendation for calories. I went from 1360/day down to 1200 per day as the weight dropped off. Can I take your calculation to mean then that my deficit was about 1000 calories/day? That is about the number that MFP suggests for maintenance. I think I'm going to work my way slowly back up to that number, but always remembering to eat good calories instead of empty ones. And incorporate the weight training once the doctor gives me the "all clear" from the torn bicep I had surgically repaired in late February.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    These last few weeks with the same normal routine, what has been your net eating level, and what has been your weight lost on weekly basis?

    You can figure out your true TDEE and know that you can go back up to that level at least.

    Edit:
    If you really did net eat at 1200 avg daily.
    And your weight lost the last few weeks has been 1/2 lb, that means you had deficit of 250 cal daily on avg.

    That means TDEE is net 1450 calories.
    True TDEE would have your exercise calories on top of that.

    For a guy at your weight, that would be a very sad example, and means you really suppressed your metabolism.
    Which is fine at goal weight, there are benefits to it. Just a terribly slow weight loss experience compared to what could have been.
    I'm hoping you've been losing 1lb last few weeks.

    I've been averaging about 2 pounds per week, following the MFP recommendation for calories. I went from 1360/day down to 1200 per day as the weight dropped off. Can I take your calculation to mean then that my deficit was about 1000 calories/day? That is about the number that MFP suggests for maintenance. I think I'm going to work my way slowly back up to that number, but always remembering to eat good calories instead of empty ones. And incorporate the weight training once the doctor gives me the "all clear" from the torn bicep I had surgically repaired in late February.

    That is true, if you finished eating at 1200 and were losing 2 lbs of fat per week, that means you had a 1000 cal deficit daily.

    Now, I'll bet you actually burned some LBM off also, some muscle in that, because only 600 cal there is 1 lb, and such low cal would have done that too you.

    So say easily lost 1 lb of muscle and possible glucose/water stores at 600 cal, and 1lb of fat at 3500 weekly, meaning 586 daily deficit.

    So current TDEE with the level of activity you currently have is 1785 - call it 1800.

    Depending on how intense your workouts are, you are probably glucose depleted most of the time, so don't be surprised to put on 1-2 lbs of glucose/water weight after a couple days.
    Just recall that if any weight gain was really fat, that would imply 3500 extra calories during whatever time period you gained it. Meaning you gain 1 lb over night, you know you didn't eat 3500 extra calories above 1800 the day before - therefore it can't be fat.

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